Bobs feet swelling on young chicks ?

[birdsanctuary]

Ok so this is what I have noticed happen to my young bobs . I have them in my brooder and noticed a couple getting their foot picked at buy others and now are swollen at the ball of their foot . They still run around normally just notice they favor that foot a bit . On one I did put some poleysporne on his foot because his foot got picked and it got a split on it and I did not want it to get infected . There is lots of feed in there for them in two areas one has on the floor and the other is a shallow dish . I am wondering if this is normal and will they grow out of this? And the brooder is 20"x 30" and there is only 12 bobs in it right now 4 are snowflake and the rest regular bobs . Any info would be greatly appreciated I am hopping it doesn't turn into bumble foot !

 

[dc3085]

Ok so this is what I have noticed happen to my young bobs . I have them in my brooder and noticed a couple getting their foot picked at buy others and now are swollen at the ball of their foot . They still run around normally just notice they favor that foot a bit . On one I did put some poleysporne on his foot because his foot got picked and it got a split on it and I did not want it to get infected . There is lots of feed in there for them in two areas one has on the floor and the other is a shallow dish . I am wondering if this is normal and will they grow out of this? And the brooder is 20"x 30" and there is only 12 bobs in it right now 4 are snowflake and the rest regular bobs . Any info would be greatly appreciated I am hopping it doesn't turn into bumble foot !

They need double the amount of space you have them, if you want them not fight or pick at each other. Try to do no less than 1/2 sq ft per chick. with bobs more space is better. Use a red bulb to brood them if you aren't already, bobs are aggressive in the brooder and the red light helps to mitigate that, as well as promoting healthy growth.

Quail often injure their feet and it usually does not interfere with their quality of life, I would need to see a picture of the foot to tell for sure. Just make sure to use some sort of antibiotic ointment on open wounds. Make sure you don't use anything with a pain killer in it.

 

[TwoCrows]

X2

You need to add more room to your brooder. Bobs are very suseptable to toe picking when stressed. And always use a red or infra red bulb with Bobs. They tend to freak out on each other with white light.

 

[James the Bald]

Here is a site that can you can read up on to diagnose the ailment.
James

 

[birdsanctuary]

Ok I was wondering about the light it is an infer red light but a clear one. And it looks to be just the one bigger one that is doing all the toe picking. Next question is how old before they can be kept without a brooder lamp the two bigger ones are getting feathers ?

 

[TwoCrows]

They will need heat until about 5 or 6 weeks. You should be lowering the heat by 5 degrees each week until then.

 

[dc3085]

When you see him being aggressive, you can do what we call cooling them down. I keep mine on a dimmer so if they are fighting in the brooder I just lower the temp for a few minutes. Cold chicks forget all about fighting.

 

[birdsanctuary]

Well the red light seems to be doing the trick and I put more feed on the bottom the seem more content now with the extra fed to pick at !

Thanks for the info